Family Vacation on the Grand Canyon West Skybridge

Imagine standing on a plexiglass floor, 45 feet over the edge of the Grand Canyon and looking straight down between your feet nearly 1 mile, into the Grand Canyon, which spans over 270 miles.. That is exactly what the Hualapai Nation hired David Chin to design, a forty four foot bridge, with a plexiglass floor cantilevered over the west rim of the Grand Canyon.

This is one gravity-defying architectural feat of 1.5 million pounds of steel and plexiglass, that will hold over 70 million pounds of people (more than you could possibly fit on there. ) Put all your personal belongings in a locker, go through a metal detector and put on the paper booties over your shoes so the plexiglass floor you are about to walk on does not get scratched. And while you are out there, lay face down on the plexiglass floor. If that does not take your breath away, I don’t know what will.

Come for the Skybridge and get a whole lot more. There are several places a tourist can see the Grand Canyon, but this may be the most remote and breath-taking spot from which to do so. Children will screech in fascination.

Eagle Point and the Skybridge attract an average of 2,000 people a day 365 days a year from all over the world, China and Japan bringing the most people.

The skybridge is located about 4 hours drive north of Phoenix and about 3 hours drive from Las Vegas. There is also an airport less than a mile from the Skybridge that is serviced by Sundance Air, Grand Canyon Air, Pappion and a couple other small airlines… so you can fly there.

There is quite a bit more here than the Skybridge. We went to Guano Point with breathtaking views of both the canyon and the Colorado River that, for years, has carved the canyon.

We visited a Native American village and learned how several tribes of the area built their dwellings. It also featured an outdoor amphitheater with performances and demonstrations of the Hopi, Navajo, Plains and Hualapai tribes of the area.

There are several ways to take in all of Grand Canyon West. The land only portion, which we took, A helicopter tour above the rim of the canyon–or a helicopter ride to the bottom of the canyon and a short river raft ride and helicopter ride back to Eagle Point.

Make the most of a 24 hour stay at Hualapai Ranch, just a couple miles down the road with 26 overnight cabins a small western town and plenty of activities for the whole family: Horse drawn wagon rides, roping, horse back riding. Learn quick draw and tomahawk toss, there was a closeup magic show in the restaurant that was sure to fool even the quickest eye. This is also the home to “Norman” the cow that Billy Crystal befriended in “City Slickers” — Take advantage of all the activities here and you may go home feeling like a sure-fire gunslinger.

Larry Berle is a travel writer who writes on many travel topics but specializes in golf travel. He is author of A GOLFERS DREAM: HOW A REGULAR GUY CONQUERED THE GOLF DIGEST LIST OF AMERICAS TOP 100 GOLF COURSES. Learn more about his book at www.GolfersDreamBook.com and from there you can also access his travel blog.